“Thank your neighbour for smoking outside”

Smoke-free ad campaign

Sarah Frank

Nancy Sinopoli, community services co-ordinator with the Canadian Cancer Society, and Jane Hoffmeyer, a health promoter with the local health unit, help to kick off a new ad campaign on Dec. 4 encouraging smoke-free rental properties.

(PETERBOROUGH) As the weather turns cold and bitter, more smokers who normally light up outside could start taking the habit indoors.
In an attempt to combat the dangers of second and third-hand smoke, local health promoters and the Canadian Cancer Society are encouraging smoke-free rental buildings with a new ad campaign.
The campaign, which kicked off Dec. 4, will have ads on and inside buses throughout the city.
According to Jane Hoffmeyer, a health promoter with the health unit’s tobacco program, this is the time of year the health unit sees an increase in calls regarding neighbours smoking inside.
In a guidebook to help property managers and landlords implement smoke-free policies, health promoter suggest to begin with a door-to-door survey to evaluate tenants’ attitude about exposure to cigarette smoke. From there, landlords can phase-in smoke-free units in their buildings by waiting until a smoker leaves, then renting the unit smoke-free, or by “grandfathering” in policies.
It also includes adding an additional clause in rental agreements to make the tenant responsible for any damage caused by smoking.
The easiest time to request a smoke-free unit is when a tenant is signing a new lease, the guidebook advises.
Ingrid Cathcart, a smoking by-law enforcement officer with the health unit says peoples’ perception of smoking has shifted over the past few decades.
“Things have changed so much since legislation was introduced in 1994,” she says. “Today we’re even legislating smoking outdoors.”
Ms Cathcart says it makes no sense to not give landlords and tenants an avenue to protect themselves from second-hand smoke inside their homes. In the course of her job, Ms Cathcart says she’s come across some horrific situations, with multiple smokers lighting up regularly in confined dwellings. Unfortunately, she says, second-hand smoke often effects the city’s most vulnerable people, who can’t change where they live.
Some headway has already been made, with 14 special housing providers currently phasing out smoking, says Ms Cathcart.
“People aren’t aware they can do something,” she says. “That’s why this campaign is so exciting. So many people think they have no opportunity to make changes.”
The local chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association has already made the 11 residential properties they own for supportive housing smoke-free. Many of the approximate 100 units they also use for supportive housing, which are used through agreements with local landlords, are also smoke free.
According to Sandy Woodhouse, the supportive housing program manager, a clause in the lease agreement doesn’t necessarily mean landlords can evict a tenant for lighting up in a smoke-free unit.
In any situation, she says, a landlord can only evict a tenant with an eviction notice from the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Implementing smoke-free units, says Ms Woodhouse, is similar to units which are deemed pet-free, she says.
“If a tenant moves in and gets a cat, that’s not necessarily grounds for eviction. If the cat meows all night or causes damage to the unit -- it’s not that they have a cat, it’s that the cat has caused other things,” she says.
Similarly, smoking has to impair safety in order for a landlord to evict a tenant.
For example, if a smoker is a hoarder and there is a fire hazard, or the person next door shares a ventilation system and has asthma, the landlord could claim the smoking presents a safety issue.
Ms Cathcart says local landlords wanting to introduce smoke-free units can call the health unit for help with the process.